Just Returned From 2K Trip

[Dr Gil]

So I just returned from a 2.5K trip from my my home in the California redwoods to the Sea of Cortez in Mx and back and have a couple of concerns.

 

#1

During my time in Mexico my '02 Le Mans started "weeping" a light skim of "viscous matter" on the lower triple tree. It appeared during the day's rides (somewhat rough) and continued during the evenings when I wasn't riding to where if I wiped it off in the evening I'd find more in the morning. Meanwhile I'd started hearing a "squish-squish" from the front end when traveling at low speeds over rough roads. Are these things related? Have I got fork seal problems? I suspect no...I think this oil is too high up and is probably from that large bolt on top of my frame...but still there is the "squish-squish."

 

#2

Is the overheating that occurred during the trip. The bike sputtered and stopped running when idling at at the border in 100 degree weather. I had more than one sputters when the weather was 90 degrees and at slow or no speed. Can this be normal? It seems I've run it in this sort of temps before without problems...but now I have consistent probs. I have recently set the valves (they were right on even before the re-setting) and re-gapped the plugs (which were WAY too wide). Is this a tuning prob?

 

As always, any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

View the trip report of my ride HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32 s

[Guest ratchethack]

Welcome back, Gil, and congrat's on a successful trip. My hat's off to you!

 

Thanks for the link to the travelogue. Brings back many fond memories of many trips.

 

May I assume you missed the infamous Miramar Bar in San Felipe? Last time I was there guys were riding their Baja 500-prepped bikes off the street, up the stairs, blasting through the classic swinging doors, doing brodies on the floor in front of the bar, ordering (and consuming) shots of tequila without getting off their bikes (or killing the motors), then doing wheelies down the steps out onto the street. . . . What was once a peaceful fishing village had become a bit of a playground for Ugly Americans who make a bad name for all of us in many ways -- and the Federales are instructed to look the other way as long as those dollars flow in. La mordida runs the show, I'm sure you understand after this trip... But I digress. . .

 

FWIW, coupla thoughts on your symptoms:

 

#1 As I recall, you had a similar unidentified seepage of some sort in this area a ways back. If the weep on this trip appeared to be coming from the lower steering head bearings in 100 degree F heat, I'd suspect a little run-off of low melting point components of bearing grease and I'd just forget about it. Other than that, without being able to smell/see/taste over the Web, it's a little difficult to help here.

 

As far as the "squish" sound in the forks, unless the weep appears to be coming from the area around the fork stanchion and seeping down from the fork caps, I would not consider this related in any way to the above, but it's puzzling alright. Someone else had something like this recently. A nipped o-ring on one of the fork caps could cause an air leak and result in a hissing noise (not so much "squishing" ) on compression & rebound. As I suggested to the poster with this symptom, one way to check for this is to make a "cup" out of tape around the top of the fork stanchion at the cap, and put soapy water in the "cup" and work the fork up and down. Bubbles = a sure sign of a bad o-ring. It'd be a quick & easy fix. NOTE: You don't want water leaking into your forks on rebound! Fork oil would be a better fluid to use than water. I have no idea wot else it could be.

 

#2 You didn't mention that the bike was failing to start after sputtering and stopping, so I assume re-starting is not a problem, which takes vapor lock out o' consideration. Per recent discussion on this, some V11's, mine included, exhibit a dropped firing signal or "miss" occasionally ONLY at idle or trailing throttle. IMHO this is due to the stock cam chain tensioner being weaker than ideal, and allowing for a little chain whip, which occasionally puts the sensor wheel on the cam out of whack (out of the timing pattern if you will) on one rotation, and confuses the ECU into dropping a firing signal. If the idle is low and the temp is high, it can snuff the motor. That's my current theory based on observation (both mine and others). In my case, this happens with more frequency when the bike is good and hot, though mine doesn't snuff, it idles well enough to recover. This is entirely harmless, and as soon as the engine has load on it, the cam chain tightens up on the drive side and all's well. Some have reported elimination of this with an aftermarket Stucchi or Valtek tensioner, which reportedly keeps the cam chain much tighter. I'm convinced enough of this to put a new aftermarket tensioner on my next parts order.

 

That's all I got, my friend! It would seem you've done very well if this is the limit of y'er problems after that trip! Wot's that about Italian moto's being unreliable??!!

[Dr Gil]

So I just returned from a 2.5K trip from my my home in the California redwoods to the Sea of Cortez in Mx and back and have a couple of concerns.

 

#1

During my time in Mexico my '02 Le Mans started "weeping" a light skim of "viscous matter" on the lower triple tree. It appeared during the day's rides (somewhat rough) and continued during the evenings when I wasn't riding to where if I wiped it off in the evening I'd find more in the morning. Meanwhile I'd started hearing a "squish-squish" from the front end when traveling at low speeds over rough roads. Are these things related? Have I got fork seal problems? I suspect no...I think this oil is too high up and is probably from that large bolt on top of my frame...but still there is the "squish-squish."

 

#2

Is the overheating that occurred during the trip. The bike sputtered and stopped running when idling at at the border in 100 degree weather. I had more than one sputters when the weather was 90 degrees and at slow or no speed. Can this be normal? It seems I've run it in this sort of temps before without problems...but now I have consistent probs. I have recently set the valves (they were right on even before the re-setting) and re-gapped the plugs (which were WAY too wide). Is this a tuning prob?

 

As always, any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

View the trip report of my ride HERE.

 

 

32 s

 

 

Thanks Ratchet...while I don't alway understand your replies they somehow make me feel better about things.

 

I will try to digest all you've said tomorrow in the clear light of day.

 

Thank you for your thoughtful reply and if any of it makes sense tomorrow I will probably have to question you further.

 

I haven't taken the bike out since my trip and the extreme conditions that it suffered. I need to ride it here locally under moderate conditions and see if any of the same problems persist or if they were merely manifestations of the extreme conditions encountered during my ride.

[andy york]

Great trip report !!

I'll go along with ratchethack on the front end anomolys

as to overheating/vaporlock....it is very possible.

I put 40k on my 02 lemans and never had it happen...

many trips of 500 to 958 miles in a day ..hot...cold...rainy...

nary a problem. Then last year the planets lined up and the stars

were just right and on a short 300 mile day.... vapor lock!!!

You can try and be creative and mount the fuel pump in a different

location :grin:or avoid idling at the border in 100 heat

Lots of the V10s have the pump relocated above the front engine cover

 

andy

[pete roper]

Any leakage and fork problems I can't give any suggestions for BUT the spluttering may be down to the engine temperature sensor. The vast majority of these don't seem to seat properly so the ECU doesn't get a good temperature refference. This means the ECU always thinks that the motor is running colder than it is. In extreme conditions it can cause the plugs to foul. Result? spluttering and chuffiness.

 

Pete

[ptrkbeam]

Doc,

What an awesome trip!

I hope to do something similar on my 02 Champagne someday.

Last spring, the wife and I visted Yosemite for the second time. We flew into Sacramento and headed through some of the same country you traveled. E15 out of Copperopolis past Tulloch resevoir, down to Chinese camp and 120 into the park to a cabin we rented in Foresta. Spectacular! We went in March so there were no crowds, had some snow, too - nice for us Texans, in a 4 wheel drive!

Thanks for sharing the trip.

My uneducated guess on the stumbling/sputtering: bad gasoline?

[rocker59]

Oil on your lower triple clamp could also be from the steering damper.

 

A "squishing" sound from your forks at low speed going over big bumps is not necesarily unusual.

[Tom M]

GREAT trip report Doc!

[Steve G.]

Good write up Doc. I was in Baja in Februrary with a gang of buddies. Stopped in San Felipe, drank beer in the same place as you. I could spend the winters there without too much arm twisting!

Ciao, Steve

[Guest Mattress]

Any leakage and fork problems I can't give any suggestions for BUT the spluttering may be down to the engine temperature sensor. The vast majority of these don't seem to seat properly so the ECU doesn't get a good temperature refference. This means the ECU always thinks that the motor is running colder than it is. In extreme conditions it can cause the plugs to foul. Result? spluttering and chuffiness.

 

Pete

 

I just saw this after posting a similar reply on another thread. My bike ran great last summer and no problems on a brief run recently.

 

Would you go so far as to recommend replacing the holder with the brass one as a preventitive maintenance on a bike with no issues?

 

Also, my mechanic dropped me down one on the heat range of my stock plugs. Said it would be better for riding around Chicago's stop and go traffic in the summer heat. I confess I don't have a good understanding of heat ranges effect on engine operation.

[badmotogoozer]

One of the many issues with my bike was horrendous fuel mileage (low 20's!!). I'm hoping part of that will be solved with the brass sensor holder from Greg at MI ( ). Bike's good to go again and I'll be plating it this weekend so no direct feedback yet.

 

I was surprised that not only did the transducer not contact the head side of the holder, it was a whopping 5mm away! Greg says filling the holder with anti-seize makes it work fine. Maybe so... but I wanted a for sure solution. Turned up a nice little brass bit that slides into the holder with the inside profiled for the sensor. Add a bit of thermal compound to each bit and I know for certain that things will be as accurate as possible (assuming sensor is working).

 

Will report once I've run a few tanks through the Bastard.

 

cheers,

 

Rj